- Date
- July 10, 1993, 20:20 local (Jul 11, 1993, 00:20 UTC)
- Place
- Flemington, NJ
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7113EBalloon Works Firefly 8B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed · report May 17, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 8787
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The passenger's inadvertent activation of the burner after the landing, causing the terrain to burn and subsequently igniting the balloon envelope.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
During an uneventful 45 minute balloon flight, a long drag landing was made onto a hay field. Near the end of the drag landing, the balloon flattened out spread across the stubble of the hay field. The pilot reported that the passenger inadvertently activated the burner while exiting the gondola. The flames from the burner ignited the stubble underneath the envelope, subsequently causing the envelope to burn.
Factual narrative
On July 10, 1993, about 2020 hours eastern daylight time, N7113E, a Balloon Works Firefly 8B balloon, registered to Looking Up Advertising Incorporated, North Plainfield, New Jersey, was substantially damaged during landing in Flemington, New Jersey. The pilot and passenger were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a flight plan was not filed. The personal flight departed from Frenchtown, New Jersey, at 1935 hours and was conducted under 14 CFR 91.
According to the pilot;
"A successful 45 minute balloon flight was made. . . . A long drag landing was made on the upward slope of a hay field that was cut and raked with 3 inch stubble in the ground. The balloon flattened out at the end of [the] drag, laying on top of the stubble. The passenger crawled out of the gondola and hit the burner, causing the burner to go on, setting the stubble on fire in front of the basket going under the envelope, causing [the envelope] to burn."
No mechanical malfunctions were reported.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7113E
- Reported as
- Balloon Works Firefly 8B
- Category
- Balloon
- Serial number
- F8B-119
- Airframe hours
- 349
- Engine
- unknown
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Looking Up Advertising, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Looking Up Advertising, Inc,
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 1, 1993
- Departed
- NONE · Frenchtown, NJ
- Airport
- None
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 56
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Medical
- Unknown, Unknown
- Flight hours
- 828 total · 825 in this make and model · 828 as pilot in command · 24 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Wind
- 330° at 15 knots
- Lowest ceiling
- None